


Pierced Pretty

by Anonymous



Category: Lockwood & Co. - Jonathan Stroud
Genre: Don't Try This At Home, Ear Piercings, F/M, Gen, anthony “Give jewelry and run” Lockwood, no actual blood though, trigger warning for mentions of blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:40:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29639628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: I’d agreed to this lunacy yesterday after Holly mentioned how “darling” earrings would look against my short, dark hair.  I remembered my older sisters piercing each other’s ears, but as my mother liked to say, prettiness wasn’t my profession, so I’d never had mine done.
Relationships: Lucy Carlyle/Anthony Lockwood
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19
Collections: Anonymous Fics





	Pierced Pretty

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been having terrible issues with my ear piercings lately, suffice it to say I’ve had earrings on the brain.

“I think this healthy eating thing has finally gone too far, Hol.” George poked a spoon into a pot Holly had on the stove. “There’s got to be tastier - not to mention safer - ways to get minerals in your diet than safety pin soup.” 

Holly whisked the spoon away from George and shooed him away from the boiling pot.

“Leave those be, George, I’m sterilizing them to pierce Lucy’s ears with.”

I’d agreed to this lunacy yesterday after Holly mentioned how “darling” earrings would look against my short, dark hair. I remembered my older sisters piercing each other’s ears, but as my mother liked to say, prettiness wasn’t my profession, so I’d never had mine done. Id let myself get caught up in Holly’s excitement, as she’d chattered on about lending me a pair of her old studs to wear, and what sort of earrings I might try once the piercings had healed, and how lovely they’d look with my necklace. I squeezed the necklace now for comfort. Some of our old, dull practice rapiers looked were starting to look sharper to me than the safety pins Holly was cooking up, and the ice cube she handed me was doing more to dampen my collar than the feeling in my ear lobe.

Lockwood appeared over the top of his morning paper. 

“Pierce Luce’s ears? Is that safe? Isn’t that something a doctor should do?” His concern was touching, I would have smiled if I wasn’t too busy watching Holly’s preparations. No matter what else we might be to each other, Lockwood was still my boss, and any agent should be ashamed to show fear in the face of something as mundane as a safety pin. I took a page from George’s book and kept my face as expressionless as possible. There was no way I was going to chicken out now that Holly had announced it to everyone.

“Not to worry,” Holly snapped on a pair of gloves. “My grandmother pierced my ears this way when I was just a baby and I survived.”

“Try not to get too much blood on the thinking cloth,” George munched around his donut. “Got some important theories I’ve been working out on there.”

I blanched, but Lockwood turned positively green. Holly advanced, unperturbed, safety pin in gloved hand.

“Hold still,” she hummed, taking hold of my ear lobe. 

I held my breath. If my sisters, who were literally afraid of their own shadows, could manage this, then dammit, so could...Oh. Lockwood took hold of my hand and squeezed. I opened my eyes, which I didn’t remember closing.

“See, nothing to it.” Holly straightened up.

I blinked. I’d been so distracted by Lockwood and had hardly felt it go in.

“You took it like a champ, Luce, didn’t even flinch.” Lockwood beamed at me. 

“One down, one to go,” Holly took my other ear. The first ear was starting to throb. I squeezed Lockwood’s hand tight. 

“You know,” Lockwood said as I braced for the second piercing, “I think there might be a pair of earrings or two upstairs you might like, why don’t we have a look later?”

I forgot all about the impending safety pin.

“Oh, Lockwood,” I stammered, “thank you, that’s so -“

“And done.” Holly interrupted. “We’ll just give these a bit and then pop the earrings in.”

“Come to think of it,” George said, after satisfying himself that I had not splattered gore over his research notes, “I’ve recently read a theory about silver body piercings being a more effective personal ghost ward than, say, a brooch or a hat pin. Something to do with the metal going through the skin. Say, Hol, for research, why don’t you pierce my -“

“That’ll be enough for today, I think,” Lockwood interrupted. “Besides, I’ll need you on the case tonight, I’m giving Luce the night off to recover.”

George squawked indignantly. 

“I get bigger paper cuts than that on the daily in the Archives!”

Later, Holly pulled out the safety pins and replaced them with small silver studs. George gave me a donut to bite down on and a reassuring pat on the shoulder. After some cursing on my part, and some fussing on Lockwood’s part, the posts were in, and Holly handed me a mirror to get my first look.  
My ears were puffy and red, but the earrings were shiny and I liked them. I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say I looked “darling” as Holly was proclaiming, but they did stand out nicely against my hair, and were small enough to be practical. 

“You look lovely, Luce.” I noticed Lockwood’s ears were as red as mine. “I mean, the earrings, look nice. On you.”

It’s a wonder all the blood rushing to my face didn’t cause my ears to bleed all over George’s scribbles.

Holly discreetly disappeared to toss her gloves. George, to whom discretion is a complete stranger, bustled over to interrupt.

“Well, Luce, once you’re fully ‘recovered’ and back to work, I’ve made a list of experiments we can try to test the piercing theory. We’ll have to try them with the earrings in and out, or course, to get a control group, and -“

“Forget it, George, I’m not getting ghost-touched for science,” I said, annoyed at him for interrupting Lockwood’s lovely compliments. 

Lockwood pulled me to my feet.

“Come on, Luce, let’s go have a look upstairs to see if we can’t find you a pair of earrings of your own.”

I followed willingly, and he did not drop my hand as we left the kitchen and headed upstairs.

**Author's Note:**

> Don’t try this at home kids! Thanks for reading to the end <3


End file.
